Dental floss is a bundle of thin filaments used to remove food and dental plaque from teeth. The floss is gently inserted between the teeth and scraped along the teeth sides.
Dental floss is commonly supplied in plastic dispensers that contain 10 to 100 meters of floss wrapped around a spool located within the dispenser. After pulling out the desired amount, the floss is pulled against a small protected blade in the dispenser to sever it.
Flossing in addition to tooth brushing can reduce plaque, gingivitis and halitosis compared to tooth brushing alone. The American Dental Association advises to floss thoroughly once or more per day. However, even with all of the benefits provided by flossing, many individuals forget to floss on a regular basis.
Therefore, a need exists for a device to keep dental floss readily available to individuals when brushing teeth so the individuals are reminded to floss.
The relevant prior art includes the following references:
Pat. No.InventorIssue/Publication Date(U.S. Patent References)4,788,082VitelleOct. 18, 19885,076,302ChariDec. 31, 19915,332,107WilliamsJul. 26, 19945,449,092BazanSep. 12, 19955,732,722MortvedtMar. 31, 19986,572,063Gitelman et al.Jun. 03, 20032003/0140938Evans et al.Jul. 31, 20037,198,051FestaApr. 03, 20078,381,743Thomas et al.Feb. 26, 2013D686,019LucskoJul. 16, 2013(Foreign Patent References)CN201261592N/AJun. 24, 2009CN102730256N/AOct. 17, 2012EP2422743Bosch CerdaAug. 14, 2013